dbeck (04/01/83)
#R:ucbesvax:5300001:sri-unix:16800001:000:83 sri-unix!dbeck Mar 29 13:41:00 1983 /Rockwell is bringing out a 65xx derivative with FORTH embedded. dbeck@sri-kl
wdr (04/06/83)
Rockwell: the AIM-65 has had FORTH rom available for years. I heard a rumour that splitters from Clive Sinclair's ZX81 company have formed a start-up to produce zx8* size Forth-based personal/toy computers. (My reaction to the zx80 was "can I get a Forth ROM?", so I'm pleased someone else finally saw the light.) figFORTH was working on a bit-slice project in silicon valley last I heard. Any news?
ma26 (04/20/83)
The May 1983 issue of Creative Computing has an advertisement for the
"Jupiter Ace" with FORTH in ROM. It looks like the ZX-8* but has "a full
size moving-key keyboard, high resolution graphics, sound, floating point
arithmetic and 3K of RAM expandable to 51K". The version of FORTH is said
to "closely follow the FORTH 79 standard".
The price for the basic machine is $150. The 16K RAM pack is an
additional $50. A 48K RAM pack is $125. A parallel/serial interface is
$100. The address given in the ad is:
Computer Distribution Association
56 South 3rd Street
Oxford, Penna. 19363
I'd be anxious to know the opinion of someone who buys one of these.
John J. Wavrik
Department of Mathematics
Univ. of Calif. at San Diego
La Jolla, CA 92093dfc (04/29/83)
For the price, I consider the "Jupiter Ace",
the micro with FORTH in ROM, to be good value.
(The designers used to work for Sinclair)
The keyboard is the same as the Sinclair Spectrum. It's rubber,
but at least there is is some "feel" to it, and a click when you
press a key. My niggle - I don't like the use of two shift keys.
I wouldn't term the graphics "high resolution". As in the ZX81,
you can address 64 x 46 pixels, but the character set (128 chars
8x8 plus inverse) is held in RAM and can be modified, so that you
can define your own special characters.
NB The display is black and white only.
The sound is simply a beeper, but you have control of pitch
and duration from FORTH.
Of the 3k RAM, 1k is allocated to the memory-mapped screen,
1k to the character set, so that most of the remaining 1k is
available for code. The add-on memory adds to the 1k.
The processor is a Z80.
I have not used any other version of FORTH, so I cannot compare,
but the manual gives some language differences.
1) Input/output is cassette rather than disc based. Compiled
programs are saved/loaded using SAVE,LOAD.
2) The editor operated by decompiling - a screenfull at a time
is displayed for editing, then recompiled.
3) There are a few extra words for floating point arithmetic,
and screen control etc.
4) A few words are not implemented - I assume these are uncommon
ones infrequently used.
I've had the machine for 4 months and have enjoyed playing with it.
I would recommend it to anyone who wants to experiment with FORTH
and doesn't already have access to it elsewhere.
David F. Corner
Dept. of Artificial Intelligence
Univ. of Edinburgh